Governor Corzine has released his plan to eliminate this fiscal year's projected budget shortfall of $1.2 billion. The fiscal year ends June 30th and the constitution forbids New Jersey from ending the year with a deficit.
The plan would,
- Defer payments made for school aid and business grants until next fiscal year ($450 million)
- Draw from the projected surplus ($450 million)
- Reduce pension contributions ($150 million)
- Make cuts to departmental operating costs ($150 million)
The departmental cuts will be announced today. Finding $1.2 billion in genuine cuts may be impossible this late in the fiscal year, but the changes do sound a lot like slipping back into some budgetary bad habits made by the governor's predecessors. The trouble with this year's deferrals is that they become next year's enhanced spending, and the budget picture for FY '10 won't be pretty either.
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